A review by skoppelkam
Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Why did I put off reading this for so long? It's an incredible short story collection, and I loved it nearly as much as I loved "In the Dream House." The characters are complex, the plotlines creepy, the structures creative, and the influences vast. It's really cool to see some of the foundations of "Dream House" in stories like "Especially Heinous" and "Mothers." "The Husband Stitch" was a masterful reference to "The Green Ribbon," a story everyone from my generation read and was haunted by. Machado is certainly one of my favorite contemporary writers, and I'll read whatever she does next immediately.